In its Order Nos. 717, et seq., (“Order No. 717”) issued in Docket Nos. RM07-1-000, et al., “Standards of Conduct for Transmission Providers,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) revised its Standards of Conduct regulations that govern the relationship between an interstate natural gas pipeline that transports gas for others pursuant to Subparts B or G of Part 284 of the Commission’s regulations (“Transmission Provider”) and its affiliate that engages in Marketing Functions and conducts Transmission Transactions with the Transmission Provider.
MountainWest Pipeline, LLC; MountainWest Overthrust Pipeline, LLC and White River Hub, LLC are “Transmission Providers” as defined in section 358.3(k)(2) of the Standards of Conduct.
Capitalized terms in these Procedures have the following meanings. Other capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meaning given such terms in section 358.3 of the Standards of Conduct.
Means an entity that controls or is controlled by or is under common control (10 percent or more) with such entity, including a division that operates as a functional unit. “Control” means the direct or indirect authority, whether acting alone or in conjunction with others, to direct or cause to direct the management policies of the Affiliate.
Defined in section 358.3(c)(2) as the sale for resale in interstate commerce, or the submission of offers to sell in interstate commerce, natural gas, subject to the following exclusions: 1) bundled retail sales; 2) incidental purchases or sales to operate interstate natural gas pipeline transmission facilities; 3) sales of natural gas solely from a seller’s own production; 4) sales of natural gas solely from a seller’s own gathering or processing facilities; or 5) on- system sales by an intrastate natural gas pipeline, by a Hinshaw interstate pipeline exempt from the Natural Gas Act, by a local distribution company, or by a local distribution company operating under 7(f) of the Natural Gas Act.
Defined in section 358.3(d) as an employee, contractor, consultant, or agent of a Transmission Provider or of an Affiliate of a Transmission Provider who actively and personally engages on a day-to-day basis in Marketing Functions.
Transmission Function Information is defined in section 358.3 (j) as information relating to Transmission Functions, as defined below. Non-Public Transmission Function Information is all Transmission Function information that is not otherwise also available to the public without restriction, or the Internet Website, as applicable. This can include, but is not limited to, past, present, and future information about transmission maintenance schedules, transmission customer information, curtailments of transmission service, available transmission capacity, including storage, transmission service requests and request status, transmission service pricing offers, transmission outages, and certain expansion plans.
Defined as the rules governing the relationship between Transmission Function Employees and Marketing Function Employees as established by FERC in Order No. 717, Standards of Conduct for Transmission Providers.
Defined in section 358.3 (f) as natural gas transportation, storage, exchange, backhaul, or displacement service provided pursuant to subparts B or G of Part 284 of FERC’s regulations.
Defined in section 358.3 (g) as any eligible customer, shipper, or designated agent that (1) can or does execute a transmission service agreement or (2) can or does receive transmission service, including persons with pending requests for transmission service or information regarding transmission.
Defined in section 358.3 (h) as the planning, directing, organizing or carrying out of day-to-day transmission operations, including the granting and denying of transmission service requests.
Defined in section 358.3 (i) as an employee, contractor, consultant or agent of a transmission provider who actively and personally engages on a day-to-day basis in Transmission Functions.
Defined in section 358.3 (k)(2) as any interstate natural gas pipeline that transports gas for others pursuant to subparts B or G of Part 284 of the Commission’s regulations.
Section 358.7(d) of the Standards of Conduct requires that a Transmission Provider post on its Internet website current written procedures implementing the Standards of Conduct. The following procedures have been adopted by Transmission Providers MountainWest Pipeline, LLC; MountainWest Overthrust Pipeline, LLC and White River Hub, LLC to comply with the Standards of Conduct promulgated pursuant to FERC Order No. 717.
The Transmission Provider will comply with the requirements section 358.4(a)-(d) of the Standards of Conduct. The Transmission Provider must treat all Transmission Customers, whether affiliated or not, on a not unduly discriminatory basis, and must not make or grant any undue preference or advantage to any person or subject any person to any undue prejudice or disadvantage with respect to the sale or purchase of Transmission service.
As defined in section 358.5 (a) of the Standards of Conduct, except as described in Parts III.A and V.H below, the Transmission Provider’s Transmission Function Employees shall function independently of its Marketing Function Employees.
As defined in section 358.5 (b)(1)(i) and (2) of the Standards of Conduct, Marketing Function Employees will not conduct Transmission Functions and the Transmission Function Employees will not conduct Marketing Functions.
Unless otherwise indicated on the Transmission Provider’s website, the respective work areas of Transmission Provider’s TFEs and MFE are not located in the same facility. Transmission Provider will post on its website, under the Shared Facilities subheading, the type and address of any facility in which both TFEs and MFEs work areas are located. As provided in section 358.5 (b)(1)(ii) no MFE will have access to the Transmission Provider’s gas control or system operations centers, or any similar Transmission Provider facilities used for day-to-day transmission operations or reliability functions that differs in any way from the access available to other Transmission Customers. Access to these facilities will be restricted by cardkey or other appropriate means on a 24- hour basis.
The Transmission Provider will observe the no-conduit rule as required by section 358.6 of the Standards of Conduct. The transmission provider is prohibited from using anyone as a conduit for the disclosure of Non-Public Transmission Function Information to its Marketing Function Employees. The no-conduit rule will apply to all Williams employees and to those of its subsidiaries and Affiliates, and to any contractor, consultant or agent of Williams and its subsidiaries and Affiliates. The Transmission Provider has accordingly implemented policies and procedures to assure that it will not use anyone as a conduit for the disclosure of non-public Transmission Function Information to its Marketing Function Employees. The Transmission Provider provides training on this “No-Conduit Rule” to these employees in order to assure compliance with these requirements. Transmission Provider also requires each of these persons to certify electronically that they have completed the required training.
As required by section 358.7(e)(1) of the Standards of Conduct, the Transmission Provider identifies on its Internet website all of its Affiliates that employ or retain Marketing Function Employees. The Corporate Secretary for Williams will notify the Williams FERC Compliance Officer of any company that is being formed or acquired by any entity of Williams so that a determination can be made as to whether such company employs Marketing Function Employees, requiring an update to the posted Affiliate information. In addition, the Corporate Secretary will notify the Williams FERC Compliance Officer of any company that employs Marketing Function Employees that is being sold or dissolved so that the posted Affiliate information can be updated accordingly.
As required by section 358.7(e)(2) of the Standards of Conduct, the Transmission Provider will post on its Internet website a complete list of the employee-staffed facilities shared by any of the Transmission Function’s Transmission Function Employees and any Marketing Function Employees, including the types of facilities shared and the addresses of the facilities. The Williams FERC Compliance Officer will be responsible for making sure that the posted information is updated within seven business days of any change.
As required by section 358.7(e)(3) of the Standards of Conduct, the Transmission Provider will post information concerning potential merger partners as Affiliates that may employ or retain Marketing Function Employees, within seven days after the potential merger is announced. The Corporate Secretary of Williams will notify the Williams FERC Compliance Officer at the same time a potential merger is publicly announced. The Williams FERC Compliance Officer will then notify the Transmission Provider to post the required information.
As required by section 358.7(f)(1) of the Standards of Conduct, the Transmission Provider will post on its Internet website the job titles and job descriptions of its Transmission Function Employees.
As required by section 358.7(f)(2) of the Standards of Conduct, notice of any transfer of a Transmission Function Employee to a position as a Marketing Function Employee, or any transfer of a Marketing Function Employee to a position as a Transmission Function Employee will be posted on the Transmission Provider’s Internet website. The information to be posted will include the name of the transferring employee, the respective titles held while performing each function and the effective date of the transfer. The information will be posted for 90 days.
Williams will provide annual training on the Standards of Conduct for all Transmission Function Employees of the Transmission Provider and all other officers, directors, supervisory employees, and any other employees likely to become privy to the Transmission Provider’s Transmission Function Information. All trained employees will certify that they have been trained on the Standards of Conduct as required by section 358.8(c)(1) of the Standards of Conduct. Those employees that are on disability or administrative leave will not be trained unless and until they resume full time active employment in which case, they will be trained within the time frame for new hires.
The Standards of Conduct training will primarily be computer based and provided through the Williams Workday system. Completion of the training by each employee will be tracked and monitored by the Williams FERC Compliance Officer or her designee.
Newly hired Transmission Function Employees of the Transmission Provider, Marketing Function Employees, officers, directors, supervisory employees, and any other newly hired employees likely to become privy to Transmission Function Information will complete the training within 30 days of the effective date of their employment.
Employees or contractors who have access to any non-public Transmission Function Information through a FERC identified component must complete the Standards of Conduct training module within 30 days of their start date or must complete the Standards of Conduct training module within 30 days of being granted access to the FERC identified component. A “FERC identified component” is any Transmission Provider component (application, application’s sub-components, system, or database) that contains any non-public Transmission Function Information. Williams’ Board of Directors will receive Standards of Conduct training at one of the designated meetings for the Board.
As required by section 358.8(c)(2) of the Standards of Conduct, Williams has designated Hailey Haut, a corporate employee, as the Williams FERC Compliance Officer. The contact information for Ms. Haut is set for the below and posted on the Transmission Provider’s Internet website:
Hailey Haut
2800 Post Oak Blvd, Suite 600
Houston, TX 77056
(346) 221-5546
In certain circumstances, the Williams FERC Compliance Officer may designate others as having responsibility for certain functions, such as IT-Security for computer access control.
Employees should report any concerns immediately to your supervisor, to the Williams FERC Compliance Officer, the Legal Department, or by calling the Williams Action Line at 1-800-324-3606 or online at www.williams.ethicspoint.com. The Williams Action Line is operated by an independent third party to ensure confidentiality and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you can remain anonymous if you choose.